JAPANESE FLOAT PLANE
BOMBS HMAS PATRICIA CAM
NEAR THE WESSEL ISLANDS, NT
ON 22 JANUARY 1943

visits since 17 September 2003

The 120 ft 9 ins long wooden motor vessel
"Patricia Cam" (301 tons gross), was requisitioned by the Royal
Australia Navy from the owners, Cam & Sons Pty. Ltd, Sydney on 9 February
1942. The vessel was built in Sydney in 1940 by G. Beattie. HMAS Patricia Cam
was commissioned as an Auxiliary Mine Sweeper in Sydney on 3 March 1942. HMAS Patricia Cam sailed for Darwin
on 8 March 1942 under the command of Lieutenant John A. Grant RANR (S). She
carried a crew of 2 officers and 12 - 17 naval ratings. The ship was fitted with
1 Oerlikon, 2 Vickers machine guns and 1 browning machine gun.

HMAS Patricia Cam operated out of Darwin as a
general purpose vessel for the RAN. She was also involved in salvage work in May
1942 on the American freighter Don Isidro which was attacked
by Japanese aircraft on 19 February 1942 and was beached on Bathurst
Island. 73 survivors of the Don Isidro were rescued by HMAS
Warnambool on 20 February 1942. During the rescue they were bombed by a
Japanese float plane and 11 personnel were killed.

Early on 13 January 1943, HMAS Patricia Cam left
Darwin carrying stores and personnel headed for several outlying stations.
The passengers on board were Reverend Leonard N. Kentish, Chairman of the Methodist
Northern Australian Mission District and five natives.

HMAS Patricia Cam left Goulburn Island on 19
January 1943 headed for Millingimbi
Mission. She arrived there the following afternoon and departed Millingimbi
on 22 January 1943 headed for Elcho Island.

At 1.30pm on 22 January 1943, a Japanese float
plane of the 734th Kokatai, attacked the ship from out of the sun, with its
engine turned off, dropping one of its large bombs. It passed over the ship from
stern to stem at less than 100 feet and landed its bomb amidships. The explosion
ruptured the bottom planking and the HMAS Patricia Cam sank within a minute. The
HMAS Patricia Cam was located at 11° 19' South, 136° 23' East headed for
Wessel Island at the time of the attack.

The 734th Kokatai, was a Japanese floatplane
squadron of the the Japanese Naval Air Arm. (Can anyone
confirm what type of floatplane the 734th Kokotai used?)

Japanese Aichi E13A Float Plane
(codenamed "Jake)".
One of a number of types of Japanese float planes.

Several crew members were sitting on the forward
hatch at the time of the attack and were thrown down into the hold of the ship.
They were almost immediately washed out of the hold again but the sudden inrush
of water. One crew member went down with the ship. The two rescue boats on HMAS
Patricia Cam were destroyed in the attack. A rescue raft remained intact and was
used by the survivors.

The Japanese floatplane returned and dropped the
second bomb amongst the survivors in the water, killing one more crew member and
two of the natives. It then machine-gunned the survivors in the water for the
next 30 mins without managing to inflict any new injuries. It then flew away to
the north, but soon returned and landed on the sea near the survivors.

Sub Lieutenant John Leggoe, was one of the
survivors in the water who witnessed this event. He stated that the rear gunner
in the Japanese aircraft inserted a new magazine into his machine gun and fired
a few rounds at the survivors in the water. Leggoe siad that one of the crew of
the aircraft jumped down onto the float and tried to beckon one of them to swim
across to the aircraft. Noone took up his offer. The Japanese floatplane then taxied
around to the other side of the group of survivors near Leggoe and Kentish. The aircraft
approached Kentish, who was about 50 yards further away from the main group. The
Japanese on the float pointed his revolver at Kentish and ordered him to swim
over to the aircraft. There was a few minutes discussion before Kentish was
hauled up onto the float of the aircraft. Kentish was given a drink from a flask
and then ordered up into the aircraft. The floatplane then took off and disappeared
to the north. This incident is possibly the only case of an Australian
being taken prisoner by the Japanese in mainland Australian waters during
WW2.

By now the injured were placed in the ships
rescue raft with a few of the uninjured survivors. The rest were supporting
themselves in the sea using improvised rafts. 2 naval ratings clinging to a
hatch cover drifted away from the main bunch of survivors and were not seen
again after darkness fell.

18 survivors landed on a small rocky islet about
2 miles west of Cumberland Strait at 3.30 am the next morning. Cumberland Strait
is the strait between the two main Wessel Islands. A RANR Stoker and a native
amongst them, died from their injuries shortly afterwards. The natives amongst
them managed to light a fire to attract attention on the nearby mainland.

Plenty of fresh water was located but the only
food was shellfish and some edible roots. They were discovered by some searching
natives on 25 January 1943. The natives took, the then Commanding Officer,
Lieutenant Alexander C. Meldrum RANR (S) to the Marchinbar Island by canoe to seek
further assistance. Meldrum then completed a gruelling 56 kms walk to Cape
Wessel to where a Coastwatcher was located. A signal was sent to Darwin
regarding the incident.

In the mean time, Flight Sergeant Len Gairns, of 7
Squadron RAAF based at Horn Island was on an operational flight,
known as the "P" "Milk Run" patrol on
27 January 1943, when he spotted a bearded white man waving furiously from the
beach on the northern tip of Wessel Island. The man wrote a message in the sand
to identify he was from the HMAS Patricia Cam. It read "Patcam bombed no
food have water". F/Sgt Gairns then dropped a message, and the man then
drew an arrow on the sand pointing to the rest of the survivors.

The remaining survivors were dropped some food and first aid
kits on the following day. They were all rescued by HMAS Kuru on 29 January
1943.